New York judge used false claims to get elected

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A newly elected Manhattan judge made her way to the bench by falsely calling her main Democratic opponent a “aggressor of women,” he said in a $ 2.7 million lawsuit.

Betty Lugo, who won the June primary for Manhattan District 2 Civil Court judge by 769 votes against Edward Irizarry, has asked a female underling to file a false harassment complaint against him, she accuses. he.

“I think it is important to let voters know the truth because they have been misled,” Irizarry, 56, said in an interview.

The lawyer and former prosecutor says he met Ariana Zelaya, a campaign worker for Lugo, on the Lower East Side, on March 12, as she collected signatures for Lugo to participate in the primary ballot. He said he “politely” refused to sign and left.

Irizarry now claims that Lugo, above, won the election by spreading information calling him a “aggressor of women”.

On March 26, Zelaya told cops in District 7 that Irizarry had “alarmed” her by “asking her questions repeatedly,” according to a police report.

The NYPD said it closed the complaint.

Irizarry says he was unaware until two days before the June 22 primary, when Lugo’s campaign circulated flyers comparing him to disgraced city and state officials Hiram Monserrate and Vito Lopez.

“Don’t be fooled. Do not vote for a woman abuser as a judge in our community, ”the pamphlet reads.

Zelaya tweeted about the allegations, calling the married father of one child a “deadbeat misogynist.”

Lugo, pictured in a mask above, called Irizarry a “deadbeat misogynist”. Lugo for Judge / Facebook

“I was a prosecutor for many years, I would never do anything like they suggested,” he noted. “There were voters who asked me about the abuse. ”

Lugo won the general election in November with almost 53% of the vote.

Irizarry is also suing campaign consultants Anne Strahle and Daniel Roskoff, who allegedly charged more than $ 10,000 for a mailing he had not approved and threatened to pass him a ‘crush’ if he didn’t pay. the entire bill, he says in the Manhattan Supreme Court complaint.

“The conduct of Lugo’s camp was outrageous and the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct should investigate,” said Irizarry’s attorney, Eric Rothstein.

Zelaya, Lugo and Strahle did not respond to the messages. Roskoff declined to comment.

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